The present invention relates to an electrical connector with a cable insulation strain relief feature.
When known electrical connectors are connected with a cable, an exposed end of an inner conductor is soldered, welded, crimped or otherwise conductively attached to a cable contact area of a terminal of the connector.
A cable insulation strain relief is normally not present so that the insulation may be pulled back over the inner conductor, exposing the inner conductor at a position outside the electrical connector which may lead to short circuits or other damage. If a cable strain relief is present, the strain relief is bulky and cumbersome such as a bracket clamping the cable by means of two screws.
It is thus an important object of the invention to overcome one or more of the problems associated with prior art electrical connectors.
More specifically, it is an object of the invention to provide an electrical connector with an efficient and small cable insulation strain relief.
In order to attain the above objects, the present invention provides an electrical connector, comprising a connector housing made of an electrically insulating material, at least one terminal in said connector housing, said terminal having a cable contact area for conductively attaching an inner conductor of a cable for conducting an electrical signal and a contacting portion for making contact with a corresponding contacting portion in a complementary mating connector, wherein one end of the terminal is forked forming two forked portions, wherein said forked portions are bent by about 90xc2x0 with respect to the non-forked portion of the terminal, wherein a spacing between said forked portions is smaller than an outer diameter of an insulation of said cable. Preferably, the spacing between said forked portions is larger than a diameter of said inner conductor. In a preferred embodiment, the electrical connector is an angled connector, wherein said at least one terminal is angled, comprising a leg having said cable contact area and a contacting portion which is angled with respect to said leg. For easy and economic manufacturing, the at least one terminal is made of stamped and bent conductive sheet metal. The forked portions may have sharp edges facing to each other so as to facilitate cutting into the insulation.
This invention provides insulation straining relief for primarily welded and soldered cable terminal interfaces to prevent insulation pull-back and conductor exposure due to cable handling. This solution could be used with crimping interfaces, too, as a packaging size improvement. Currently, welded and soldered interfaces do not have provided an insulation straining feature (except as part of connector housing) to prevent insulation from sliding down the conductor when cables are pulled back, and this invention is a definite improvement. The offered solution provides simple assembly (no tools necessary) and small packaging size. In addition, the present invention allows the positioning of the cable for soldering and wielding.